Table tennis consists of a two-person-team, much like doubles in tennis. Each team stands on opposite sides of the net to score. Scoring in table tennis is the same as tennis as well, each team receives a point when they serve the ball across the net and their opponents fail to return the serve.
What makes table tennis strikingly different from tennis is that the game is played over a 9-foot-table with small paddles covered in sponge or rubber instead of a wire strung tennis racket. These changes speed up the game substantially.
Marc Hazinski is a former table tennis Olympian who now coaches the USA under 19 boys team. He says that playing table tennis helps kids with other things in life that require quick decision making, patience, or performing well under pressure.
Table Tennis Youth Individual Championships at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. Credit: Emily Rice/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“It’s really like high-speed chess — athletic chess. Because it really requires so much focus,” Hazinski said. “So, for the mental side, I think it’s good for anything you do in life because you have to make very quick decisions. You have to read your opponent, the spin, all that. So, I think it really benefits them overall in school, and just in life in general.”
Part of Hazinski’s love of this sport is due to its revolving challenges.
“The better you get, it just becomes more and more mental,” Hazinski said.
Hazinski said that he still learns new strategies and tactics from watching other players.
“There’s always things to learn. You know, I’ve been playing for 30 years, and I feel like there’s so much for me to learn,” Hazinski said.
Some doctors are recommending that aging communities pick up table tennis. A Japanese clinical study showed that table tennis activates at least five separate portions of the brain and is among top ranking brain games that individuals can play to slow cognitive decline.
For younger players, like the ones competing in this week’s individual competition, table tennis helps them learn to focus and manage their emotions.
Like for 16-year-old Rachel Wang who is competing in the Under19 mixed doubles competition. She said table tennis helps her in everyday situations.
“If you’re frustrated after one match, then it’s better to think about the next match instead of dwelling on your emotions are like the past match,” Wang said. “That’s helpful. And I guess, in everyday life, you kind of just have to learn to move on from the past.”
Rachel Wang (left, back to camera) faces off against Puerto Rico in the Individual Championship final round. Credit: Emily Rice/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Staying present, and not ruminating on what you can’t change is an important mental aspect of the sport, said Wang.
“When your opponent is winning, and you’re down a couple of points, then like you can never give up,” Wang said. “Always try your best and keep fighting every point, you know.”
The event features players competing in the 15 and under league, and the 19 and under league.
The players will be competing for their own titles and points to qualify for other competitions — like world championships or the Olympics.
At the Charleston Civic Center, pairs of boxers in four rings are fighting bouts at the same time. For the fourth year, Charleston is hosting the boxing Junior Olympics. Almost 700 athletes from all over the country, ages 8-18, are competing for a national title in their age and weight divisions.
The kids are lithe and share an expression of determination as coaches check wraps, adjust headgear and pat thin shoulders on the back. The fighters face one another, tap gloves and begin.
Credit Kara Lofton / wes
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wes
The athletes are fighting three 1- to 3-minute rounds, depending on age. In amateur boxing, the goal is not to knock out one’s opponent as it is in professional boxing, but to score points. Points are scored by the number of quality blows landed, technique, competitiveness and style.
“It’s a very unique sport—it’s an individual sport that teaches self-confidence, delayed gratification,” said Mike McAtee, executive director of USA Boxing. He said many of kids at the Junior Olympics tournament are from some of the toughest neighborhoods in the United States. Boxing gives those kids direction and a place to earn respect.
Credit Kara Lofton / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“While you’re here, I would challenge you to watch these bouts. These kids will be competing as hard as they can,” said McAtee. “The second the bell rings, they stop, they hug each other, they go and congratulate each other — so it’s about respect. It teaches respect.”
McAtee argues boxing also teaches discipline, builds physical fitness, and is a positive outlet for energy.
“I tell everybody I walked into a boxing gym when I was 12 years old. By the time I was 13, I decided I was going to be a police officer because one of my coaches was a police officer,” he said. “I was from a single parent family, lower socio-economics. And, if it wasn’t for boxing, probably instead of being a retired police detective of 25 years, I’d probably have been on the receiving end of law enforcement.”
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But when a sport is centered around fighting and rewards athletes for blows to the head and face, concussions are a big concern. The American Academy of Pediatrics has long tried to ban youth boxing, citing concerns about repetitive hits to developing brains.
But there isn’t a lot of good data about the actual percentage of youth boxers who sustain a concussion — mainly because the sport is quite small compared to things like soccer and football and doesn’t figure into the big studies.
A 2017 study of nine sports found that girl’s soccer had the highest rate of concussions followed by football for boys — boxing wasn’t included on the list. When boxing is included in statistics, it’s often lumped in with MMA, and little distinction is made between professional boxing and amateur boxing, which McAtee claims is a big deal.
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Female fighters wait to hear who has won the bout at the 2018 boxing junior Olympics in Charleston
“The purpose of our sport is to score points, compete competitively, teach respect, and then all the great benefits we all know that come from organized sports is just a great benefit,” he said.
But the reality is, no one actually knows how big of a deal concussions are in youth boxing.
However, one of the rules of amateur boxing is that a physician is present at every match and runs concussion tests before and after every bout. The physician also has the power to stop a bout if there’s any concern that one of the fighters is getting hit too hard. If a concussion is suspected, the doctor may suspend the fighter from competing or sparring for 30 days. If the fighter loses consciousness, the suspension can extend to 180 days — in some cases even longer. Family physician Martha Dodson was working this week’s event.
“Anytime there’s potential injury — and certainly with repeated blows to heads — it’s in the media. It’s a big concern right now, but that’s why we’re here that’s why we have the coverage we have, the extent of the coverage we have. That’s why we have the rules we have,” she said. “Everyone is really well trained and really, I think, as you can see, really on top of everything that is going on.”
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USAA Boxing
Natalie Dove watches her opponent in her last bout at the 2018 junior Olympics. Dove won the match. This is her third time fighting this particular opponent. The win pushed the matchups 2-1 in her favor.
While the American Academy of Pediatrics is particularly concerned with boxing, most neurologists concerned about the impact of concussions also recommend banning certain aspects of soccer (heading for instance), youth football, hockey and lacrosse. Others are wary of any contact sport, recommending that kids play tennis, badminton or swim instead.
But boxing often flourishes in low-income neighborhoods where access to a pool or tennis equipment is limited or nonexistent. McAtee said many boxing coaches offer their time on a voluntary basis and utilizing a gym is usually free for young fighters.
“I fell in love with it because in every other sport you have a whole team to rely on, but when you’re in boxing you’re doing stuff that’s only on you,” said Natalie Dove, a 16-year-old from Philadelphia.
“You know what you’re capable of doing and you know exactly what you have to do to win and I feel like it’s just — you feel really good knowing you did all of this yourself rather than relying on other people to do it for you.”
About 87 percent of the kids competing this week are male and that statistic is fairly consistent across the sport. Dove said she’s the only female fighter in her gym, but that doesn’t bother her.
“I learned a lot of discipline. I learned to work as hard as I can and push myself to the limits. I know what I can and can’t do,” she said.
For Dove, boxing is an opportunity to go places she never would have dreamed of. She said she loves that if she works hard, stays focused and is smart, she has the chance to succeed. Her goal is to fight in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
“We work really hard,” Dove said. “Nothing is ever handed to us. We have to work for what we get and I feel like people should understand that.”
McAtee said less than half a percentage of kids who participate in boxing go on to the Olympics or to become professionals. He said the community built around boxing is as much about teaching life skills as teaching kids to fight. And for many young fighters, he said, that makes all the difference in the world.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.
